What You Do, Love
by WeBuiltThePyramids
Summary: "I can't give you a singing career or give you all those hours you worked that second job back. I can't give you...I can't erase those nights you were upset over Drew not coming home." Requested by a-beautiful-mind-wf001.


**a-beautiful-mind-wf001 requested established Waige, Walter awkwardly proposing. Here's my best answer.**

* * *

"It will be good to see Maya again, huh?"

Walter handed her her cup of coffee. "Yeah. Yeah, should be interesting."

Paige lifted the cup to her lips, then made a face. "This is yours."

"No I don't..." Walter tried the cup in his hand, sure his face was unintentionally mimicking hers. "Yeah, this is definitely yours."

"I bet Sawyer is so big by now!" Paige said as she took her cup from him. "I remember how big Ralph got during his second year. It just seemed like I'd blink, and suddenly he was reaching for things he couldn't even see a week ago..." she shook her head, smiling at the memory. And every new job I took, I had to make sure I could Ralph proof it. He was always getting into things, always so curious..." Paige trailed off. "I wonder how Maya is getting along."

"I heard that she had to stop working on a project she was making a lot of leeway on when Sawyer got sick last year," Walter said. "I know how that feels, to an extent, but I'd imagine being a single mother would complicate things."

Paige nodded. "I'm sure she didn't mind, though. You realize pretty fast that putting your child before your career isn't a decision you have to make, it's the thing you just do. When Ralph was born...I had to put a lot of things on the shelf."

"Your singing?"

"Couldn't play around with that when I had a newborn crying for me every few hours," Paige said. "Our disposable cash vaporized overnight...I wouldn't have had that big wedding that every girl dreams of."

"You and Drew ever talk about getting married?"

Paige shrugged. "I mean, after a certain time frame, it comes up in most relationships but..." she shook her head. "We never discussed it seriously. We just figured we'd keep existing, keep putting Ralph first, keep doing what we had to do. And Drew was never one to want to agree to some big fancy party anyway," she said with a little laugh. "I don't think I was ever able to picture him at a wedding, even ours."

Her phone began to ring – or rather, Walter recognized it as her alarm tone. "What's that for?"

"Owen. I'm picking him and Ralph up from school and then we're going to get Sawyer from Maya. She's got some work to do today before she comes here for dinner."

"How are you possibly going to entertain three little geniuses?" Walter asked with a joke.

"I manage to keep all of you guys in line, this will be a piece of cake!" She grinned. "See you later okay?" she asked, leaning over to kiss him. "Love you."

"Yeah, love you. See you."

* * *

Still exhausted from the previous day's hair raising case, Walter's attempt to read a new thesis turned into an unplanned nap. When he awoke, more than an hour had passed, and he could tell from the sounds downstairs that the garage was definitely up three kids under the age of thirteen. And judging by the crying that suddenly wafted up from the bottom floor, Sawyer was definitely one of them.

"Oh, oh, hold on there little baby," he heard Paige said. "Come here, lay down."

Walter rose automatically, but he stopped, unsure of what he could really do to help. He was good with Ralph. He was good with Owen. He'd met Sawyer only once and was still very unsure of how to act around toddlers. Better to leave that up to the resident child expert. But Walter wandered down the stairs anyway when Paige's voice shifted out of speaking. He found her sitting on the couch with all three kids around her, smiling at both of them as she sang some song he didn't recognize. The scene gave Walter pleasant domestic feelings, which he was slowly growing used to experiencing.

Walter leaned against the wall, watching. She was smiling, her arm around Ralph, Owen sitting on the ground in front of her, and Sawyer laying on her back, her head tipped to the side to see Paige as she sang.

" _I still believe in miracles. I still believe in wedding rings and bibles. I still believe the best walk you'll ever take is walkin' down the aisle. Love, how many times can a heart break? Love, how much weight can a soul take? Love, I don't know where you ran off to. But love, love, love, I still believe in you."_

Owen was subtly rocking from side to side with her lyrics. Ralph was smiling, looking at her in that quiet, contented way he always did whenever she sang. Sawyer was, for once in her life, still, as if mesmerized by Paige's voice.

"Uh, Walter?"

He jumped. "Toby." He cleared his throat. "Didn't see you there."

"You never see me coming when she's in the room," Toby said. "But you did look particularly deep in thought today. What's eating you, my friend?"

Walter looked back toward Paige. She smiled when she sang. She made you believe that the lyrics coming from her were the most profound words in existence. He bit his lip. "Toby?"

"Huh?"

Walter waited a moment, thinking, then shook his head, turning to leave. "Never mind."

* * *

"That was a good day," Paige said as they ascended the stairs. "I just hope I wore them out enough that poor Maya isn't exhausted trying to keep them entertained."

"Maya expressed a clear interest in having them stay the night," Walter pointed out. "It isn't as if you passed them off onto her. Plus...this is good. Because I, uh, I need to talk to you. We...we need to talk."

Paige cocked her head. "Like, we need to talk? Or _we need to talk_?"

"I don't know what that means."

She let out a quick laugh. "I'm sorry." She sat on the edge of his bed. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing!" he said quickly. "I mean...no, no, nothing. Nothing is what I did...mean to say, Paige?"

She tipped her head forward. "Yes?"

"I...you...you said to me earlier that you'd given a lot up. When Ralph came along. Because he came first." He frowned, uncomfortable with his staccato sentences but unable to transition into a more efficient method of speaking. "You gave up things. S...singing. Vacation. Free time. A big wedding. All of that." He cleared his throat, hoping it would reset his speech. "And I know nothing...nothing has come up with us, really, we have work, and Ralph, and work, and I know I said work already but we work a _lot_." He paused for breath. "I can't give you a singing career or all those hours you worked that second job back. I can't give you...I can't erase those nights you were upset over Drew not coming home."

"Walter-"

"Please," he said quickly, firmly, "please let me finish."

She nodded.

"I know our relationship is...is different, from others, from most, and I know I can be difficult to interpret but I know how I feel about you, and I don't see that going away, and..." he paused. He really should have thought this through. He knew what he wanted to say but...

"I want to marry you, Paige."

The problem of how to say it solved itself.

She blinked in surprise, her mouth falling open just slightly. She wasn't sure where he'd been going with his speech, but she hadn't been expecting that, Walter was certain. He forged on. "I may not understand the appeal in big, fancy parties, but if you want what I want then I want that big party too. No expense spared. That last private job we took...well, you know what it paid." He dropped to the ground –he was several paces from her – and walked on his knees to her. Her own knees were a foot or so apart, and he pushed them to their respective sides so he could scoot closer to her, simultaneously – and awkwardly – shifting to rest on only one of his. "So what do you say?" he asked, giving her a small smile. "You and me? Big party?"

She smiled, amused. "I think I'd like that big party," she said, her voice full of emotion.

He held up a finger. "Only if you spend the rest of your life with me afterwards."

Tears escaped her eyes as she grinned, giving a happy laugh. She leaned forward, whispering his name and curling her arms around his neck.


End file.
